Counselling will start from August 28 and will continue till September 30.

In the merit list of 12,183 candidates, 4511 (37%) are females.
(Photo: Shutterstock)

This is the last year when the Joint Entrance Exam (WBJEE) for MBBS aspirants were held at the state level. From 2017, all students who want to enroll for medical and dental courses have to sit for an all India National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) that is meant to bring all medical aspirants in the country under an umbrella test.

From next year, clearing NEET will be the only way to get admission to any medical and dental college in the country.

This year 75,862 students had enrolled for WBJEE Medical exam. The number includes 44,258 students who opted to appear for both medical and engineering exam and 31,604 who enrolled only for medical entrance exam.

This year Bengal has 2,550 MBBS seats spread over 17 medical colleges, out of which 13 are run by the state government. The rest are private. There are five dental colleges in the state too.

The exams was held after a lot of turmoil and confusion. It was originally scheduled to be held on May 17 along with the state level engineering entrance exam. But it had to be canceled after a Supreme Court directive that stated there will be only one medical entrance exam - NEET - for the entire country.

The states were later empowered to hold its own medical entrance exam for one last time through an Ordinance, following which WBJEE board, in consultation with the state health department, decided on the date and modalities of the exam.